Ok. It's time to bring this blog out of the muck. I know I haven't been posting much recently, but last night I finished finals and without any hesitation, I headed right over to the casino. This post will contain some old school hand postings and then I will talk about some strategy at the end that IMO makes me a better player. So without further ado:
The table that I am playing at is a semi-tough table. There is no hand that sees a flop without having been raised, and generally there are 3-5 people seeing each flop. (loose-aggressive game I believe is what you call it)
1. I have Ace-King suited UTG. Whats the right play here? My favorite play, especially when playing against players who somewhat know what they are doing, is limp-raising with A-K from early position. It puts opponents who raise in a very tough spot once reraised, and it allows you to make the same play with Aces or Kings later on in the future. Where this play fails is when you get called and flop air. In this case, you have to give your opponent credit for some pocket pair or maybe even AK himself, so making a continuation bet on the flop can get costly. Nevertheless, I limped and about 3 other people limped behind me and the SB (who has $240 behind him) makes it $35 to go, without any hesitation. The way he made his bet told me a) he has a "strong" hand b) that doesn't want callers. Therefore, I give him a range of hands from 88-QQ, AK, or AQs. Now from what I know about this guy, is that he has a tough time folding preflop to any raise, but at worst, I am coin flipping, so even if he calls my reraise, I'm not in too terrible of a position. In the sloppiest fashion possible, I make it $125 on top or $160 to go. Folds around to him and he thinks for a while. He starts toying with me, asking if I can beat jacks or not. I tell him I can't yet and with that he calls. He checks dark and the flop falls 8-8-7 with two diamonds (I have no diamonds). He has around $85 left and he looks like hes ready to go in, so I push him in. Do I really have a choice here? What do you two think about the play of this hand?
2. I have Q-8 of hearts and have just been rushing, winning a few small and one large pot, so I open it up for $20 from mid-position. A new player calls on the button, SB and BB both call, and so does UTG +2. Five of us see a flop of J-7-6 with the 7-6 of hearts. It checks to me and I check to the button. Button fires off $45. SB folds and the BB, who is a very solid player, calls and the UTG +2 folds and I call with my flush draw. Any thoughts here? Maybe could I have raised? I don't think raising makes a whole lotta sense since I don't see a hand that I would check-raise with on that board. Anyways, the turn comes a black 7. BB checks, I check and button checks. River is a Q. BB fires out $50 into a pot that contains around $230. Immediately when he bet it, I felt like I wasn't good. I'm getting such good odds to call, but if you know you're beat, odds don't matter. What is the correct play here?
3. I have Q-10 in the BB. Four other people limp including the SB. We all see a flop of 4-3-10 rainbow. SB checks, I check, and the table checks. Turn brings another 10, giving me trips with two diamonds on the board. The SB bets $25 into $25 pot. What do I do here? Should I raise to knock out flush draws? I called, and the fella behind me called as well (this player is extremely weak and IMO either has a back door flush draw or a 3/4 with no kicker; most likely a flush draw). The river brings an off suit 9 and the SB leads out for $25 again. What's the correct play here?
One thing that I have noticed, is that every time I have a losing session, I've sat down at the table and saw that I was up against a bunch of donks. I then try to play loose and aggressive, running over the table as best as I can, when ultimately I end up getting kicked in the balls. Yesterday, when I sat down, the table was making plays that in my view, looked like expert/above average plays. I saw myself sitting at a table where everyone was going to be tough to beat. In turn, I focused my attention on a higher level in order to figure out how I was going to beat them. I ended up folding a lot and only getting my money in when I either had to, or had the best of it and it worked out nicely. So I've begun to theorize that the more credit I give my opponents for their play, the better player I become myself, in order to match their level. Looking back on the session, no one there was actually that good, with the exception of one, but it was the mere belief that they were all better than me which caused me to gear down and really develop a strategy to beat them. From now on, I'm always going to assume that these players are smart and cunning, and constantly be thinking of ways to get their money, regardless of the moves/plays they make.
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5 comments:
1) I think that whenever you have a tough hand under the gun like AK you have to either play it really soft or really strong. What people get caught up on is trying to get tricky and then not being able to tell how strong their hand really is because they have tried to disguise it so villian might be making a play at this feigned weakness or actually has a hand. Anyway, I like your play here. I think your read on the guys range is pretty accurate as well and with your re-raise I think you pretty much comitted yourself to the hand. I like your comment to him about how you couldn't beat jacks yet. You're representing aces/kings and telling him you have AK. This throws him off and he starts having to play the guessing game. Anyway, you have to move in here or else you are not defending your $160 investment. If he wins the race then so be it at least you gave yourself a chance to win a big pot.
2) Another tough situation. A couple hands that make sense here for BB to have are A7 with A of hearts, QJ, maybe even slowplaying a monster like 66 or 76 letting another card come so he can either improve or build a big pot. Anyway what makes the most sense to me here is QJ. On a draw heavy board like that, out of position, 3 handed, I would think he just wanted to get more information before he put in a raise and mostly wanted to get to showdown. When he hit his 2 top two pair on the river he decided to get some value out of it. Unfortunatelly you are stuck in a situation where you almost have to call just to keep the game honest. When players find out they can force players out of the hand with small bets then they can open up their game a lot more. Then again, I'm pretty sure you're beat here just based on how the hand went. I think I would have thought then finally called just to see (when I'm in a situation like that I usually call just to get information so in the future I can make a better decision).
3) I think you played this correctly before the river. In limp pots if you just call then it gives "odds" to other peoples draws and people generally loosen up and call building a bigger pot. As for SB leading out we have a few things to think about. He didn't bet the flop so that has to be taken into account...did he flop a monster hoping to get action or did he have a small piece like 88 where he didn't want to raise preflop with so many limpers? He could have any two cards which makes this tough. Anyway on the river you have to put in a raise to get some value out of your hand because it is very likely it is the best hand (you might even have him outkicked). The question now is how much? I think a min-raise to pot sized raise is in the best range depending on what you are trying to convey. If you decide you have the best hand then trying to "raise him out of the hand" is a good play because better players can read that and you can induce a call. Otherwise make it a small raise and keep the pot small because he could have any two cards and there are better spots.
As for your game selection I think that goes for any sport or game. Confidence can be a killer to some players especially in poker because the cards dictate the action and no matter how good you are you can always be beat by a lesser player. Running over a table is probably even easier against tougher opponents because you can outthink them and not have them just playing their cards. A better table forces you to compete and brings out the best in you. Think about any sport where you got challenged, I always had my best games against the biggest and blackest teams because I was scared. I played worse against worse players because I didn't have to focus as much.
1) He had 99 and I was happy when a K fell on the turn. I hate his call when I reraise becuase at best, IMO, he's 50-50 or crushed. Even on a good flop like that, I'm not going to fold for $85 more. With that said, a better play for him would to wait to see if an A or a K hits on the flop then go from there (push if no A or K, check-fold if they do hit)
2) You're right Joe, I called and he showed Q-J. Looking back upon the hand, QJ makes so much sense, I should have known what he had and just laid it down. Why else would he bet like that when the Q falls? He's obviously not afraid of me having KQ or AQ, and the small bet seems to be asking for a call.
3) I decided becuase he bet the same amount on the turn and river, that he didn't have a 10 and was hoping that no one else did. Therefore, I put him on something like 88 or 66. I min-raised him on the river and he immediately goes "So, you've got the 10, eh?" and thought for 15 seconds and called. I feel as though min raising was the correct play at the time becuase if he did have me beat (flopped set, 10-9, etc.) I would only lose the minimum when he comes back over the top. Also, I don't think he calls anything more than a min raise in that position.
Good to see were on the same page here, how has your table selection and preparation been going since this post?
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